1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer ceramic electronic component having improved reliability through enhanced chip air-tightness.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, as electronic products have been reduced in size, a multilayer ceramic electronic component has also required to be reduced in size, yet have a large capacity.
In line with the requirements for a multilayer ceramic electronic component to have small size and large capacity, an external electrode of the multilayer ceramic electronic component has also become thinner.
An external electrode paste may have a conductive metal such as copper (Cu) as a main material thereof to guarantee chip air-tightness and electrical connectivity with a chip and may have glass as an auxiliary material to fill voids when the metal is sintered to be contracted and provide bonding force between an external electrode and the chip.
However, in the case that the content of glass in the external electrode paste is insufficient, chip air-tightness may be defective. If excessive glass is added to compensate for this defect, the glass may be eluted (or extracted) from the surface to result in defective plating properties.
In particular, as the external electrode has become thinner, it has become difficult to implement a desired level of compactness (or denseness) therein, and the possibility of a defective product may be increased due to a shortage or excess of glass in terms of the high temperature behavior characteristics thereof.
In addition, in the case of a small multilayer ceramic electronic component of which an external electrode applied thereto is thin, since the thickness of the external electrode in a corner portion may be excessively reduced, corner coverage may deteriorate, allowing a plating solution to infiltrate thereinto.